The Fiji Business Excellence Awards this year held at the Sheraton Convention Centre on Denarau Island the past Saturday was indeed much bigger and better.

The annual event is organised by the National Training and Productivity Centre of the Fiji National University and is designed to improve productivity and quality in organisations.

It aims to promote business excellence. This is by providing a Framework for Performance Excellence that is based on similar principles as found in other reputed international awards like the Baldrige Awards of the United States and the like.

The enthusiasm was already indicated through a record number of applicants in the FBEA process as well as the increase in the number of evaluators trained.

This is an indication in itself that organisations of today are focused on improving productivity and quality.

And surely why not! After all, productivity and quality impacts every organisation’s bottom line.

Over 700 guests representing more than 60 organisations from the private and public sector attended the function.

There were 25 organisations recognised for having met the highest standards of organisational excellence.

There were a number of first timers who entered and won the award and indeed this is an inspiration for every organisation in the country that anything is possible if we have the willpower.

The Fiji Business Excellence Awards Framework is designed to help organisations put in place robust management practices, processes and systems to achieve better results.

As indicated earlier, organisations which have commenced the excellence journey continue to reap tremendous benefits for the framework.

Business Excellence is seen as an excellent took for all organisations to achieve growth, profitability and sustainability.

But not only can they improve their organizational performance, but as well as help other organisations perform better in their respective operation.

The FBEA journey for many organisations has helped them clarify their vision and mission and undertake strategic planning.

It has also helped them understand their customers and improve their business processes, workforce and operations requirements so as to generate the kind of results they desire.

In this day and age of globalisation, no organisation wants to be left in their own shell isolated from the rest of the world.

By getting access to best practices and seeing the work organisation of other superior companies in the country and abroad, the benefits are manifold.

All get to have an unparalleled access to knowledge on how a wide variety of organisations from different sectors and industries are managed and how they address challenges.

Organisations learn and adapt best practices of other organisations to improve their performance.

So, while the ultimate aim of business excellence is to increase/improve an organisation’s bottom-line, there are many more aspects which can be improved along the way.

The challenge now is for other organisations in the country to join this journey of business excellence to sit comparatively next to the best not just in Fiji, but abroad as well.

Feedback:  rachnal@fijisun.com.fj